


Yellow Peonies

by sharedwithyou



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Depressing, F/M, Mindfuck, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, angst angst angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25802452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharedwithyou/pseuds/sharedwithyou
Summary: Shut up and help me pick the flowers or I’m getting the puke green puffy dresses for the bridesmaids.”“Hah! I’m your maid of honor!”“Damn! I should have asked Tasha. You are such a pain.”“That’s why you love me!”She rolled her eyes, before picking up the ice cream and digging in. “You and Tony are so alike.”
Relationships: Implied Tony Stark/reader, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7





	Yellow Peonies

**Author's Note:**

> Hey lovelies it’s your girl Bucky the Angstmaster back at it with a signature heart wrenching avengers one-shot
> 
> WARNING: SAD
> 
> ~~~~ denotes beginning and end of flashbacks
> 
> So, enjoy! If you like angst. Otherwise it will hurt.
> 
> Xoxo Bucky the Mindfucker

“Everyone wants the first time to be great.”

You chuckled as Steve walked into the kitchen and promptly walked back out.

“Great timing as usual Thor.”

“Thanks!”

Nat the Cat stood up and patted Thor on the shoulder on her way to drop her dishes off in the sink.

“What you don’t want to reminisce with us?” You chided and she stuck her tongue out at you.

“Someone has to explain to Steve before he schedules a sexual harassment seminar again.”

“You didn’t have to check up on me, Tasha. “

Steve mumbled from behind the cereal box.

“Actually I was specifically craving those cornflakes.”

“Oh.” He got over the embarrassment, instead feeling slightly guilty for stealing the entire box of cereal.

“But you really have got to be a little less of a fogey. I mean we live with Tony.”

He sighed. “I know. I’m used to (y/n) and Tony going at it-“

“Hmm, phrasing.” Nat said with a straight face.

“Ack! I mean I’m used to Tony and (y/n) being perverted. But Thor??”

She laughed. “Now look who’s getting pervy. They weren’t talking about sex.”

“...oh?”

“They were talking about the first time Tony proposed.”

“You know it’s actually good he left right away.” You took the opportunity to grab a waffle off Tony’s plate. “I was going to say that the reason she said no was probably because it was obvious you were doing it for the cameras.”

Tony grabbed the syrup from you in retaliation of the waffle theft. “That would have been even better!”

“I’m with (y/n) on this one.” Thor took half of the waffle you stole from Tony off your plate and grabbed the syrup from Tony. “I don’t want to do the proper-touch-between-agents exercises again.”

“That’s too bad. That’s the only time (y/n) lets me get close to her.”

“Shut up Bucky.” 

“Knock knock, your uber eats is here.”

“Huh?!” Pepper pulled the door open and poked her head out, before smiling and pulling you into her room.

“Ice cream and bridal mags, hon.”

“I was afraid Tony buzzed the delivery guy again.”

You laughed. “I thought it was just a rumor.”

“That Tony drunk ordered 8 pizzas and let the pizza guy in, telling him to take the elevator to my room? Before forgetting and thinking there was an intruder? And then taking down said delivery guy in an idiotic albeit impressive jujitsu combo?”

“I’d heard it was TaeKwonDo.” You held a straight face for three whole seconds, before dropping the carton of rainbow sherbet and rolling on the floor, hooting with laughter.

“Shut up and help me pick the flowers or I’m getting the puke green puffy dresses for the bridesmaids.”

“Hah! I’m your maid of honor!”

“Damn! I should have asked Tasha. You are such a pain.”

“That’s why you love me!”

She rolled her eyes, before picking up the ice cream and digging in. “You and Tony are so alike.”

“Maybe you should be marrying me, and Tony should be the maid of honor.”

“No way.”

“What?!” You put on a mock hurt face. “I’m just as good looking as him.”

“I can concede that.” Pepper grinned, after which you heard a gasp of horror from over the intercom. “Hmm looks like little pitchers have big ears.”

“You mean little penises.” You teased.

“Both if you know that to be incredibly inaccurate.” Tony’s voice rang out testily.

“Not to mention I have a better temper.” You continued teasing your best friend.

“Yes, true. But you’re poor as fuck.”

“Now that Tony getting hitched, we need to reset the pool on who’s least likely to get married.” Tony had insisted Clint call a meeting to plan a secret bachelor party. Which annoyed Clint, but at least he got to call Tony the Irony Man. Although you weren’t sure if it was irony or just stupidity.

Regardless, everyone else grudgingly came to help. But that didn’t mean the lot of you would actually get any planning done.

“My money’s on Bucky. He’s a total player.” You slapped a 20 onto the table, earning a glare from those who were trying to play Monopoly. 

“I second that.” Steve carefully placed a 20 next to yours, so as not to shake the Monopoly board.

“I assume Brother Rogers is right, seeing that they have an entire history together.” Thor was being serious, but you and Clint snickered none the less. Friendship, bromance, secret homosexual feelings, who could say?

“Thor, lets put ‘having a history’ in the ‘Milady’ box. As in banned.” Bucky gave the two of you the side-eye.

“I don’t know, Clint seems unlikely to settle too.” Nat the Cat mused as she plopped another hotel down. Somehow Marvin Gardens was really profitable this round.

“Oh it is.” Clint agreed. “But still more likely than Thor.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he’s like a thousand years old and still doesn’t have a serious girlfriend.”

“And when exactly was the last time you even went on a date, Birdbrain?” Even though Thor had stolen half of your already-stolen waffle, you still relished the opportunity to tease Clint. Er, defend Thor’s honor.

“Does the time I got stuck in an elevator with that female Hydra agent count?”

“Uhhh..” no one knew quite how to answer that. Except you, of course.

“Clint, she was dead 30 seconds in. By your hand. So no.”

Every had a solemn moment of silence for the fallen agents on both sides.

“Why are you guys weirdly silent? Did you watch porn together again?”

Leave it to Bruce to make things more awkward. Or perhaps less awkward, because now they could focus on this weird thought instead of the morbidity of their jobs.

“Bruce, that was one time. And it was Tony and (y/n) so none of us have actuallydone something as weird as that.” Bucky commented.

“Hey! That was a Jager secret!” You shouted at Bruce with a scowl, which he shrugged off with a cute smile. Damn him. “And it’s not weird when you’re dating!”

“It’s not as weird.” Clint corrected with a smirk. 

“Anyway, if we are betting on who is going to be single the longest, I’m casting my vote for (y/n).” Bruce pulled a hundred from his wallet and plopped it on top of Reading Railroad.

“Good call!” Everyone pulled out their cash, laughing at your indignant face.

“Not you too, Steve!!”

“Sorry, but Bruce is right.” Steve smiled apologetically.

“The bet is on who’s going to get married last. Not who’s the biggest loser who won’t be able to get a date. If that helps.” Nat the Cat clarified.

“Ok, true.” You were mollified a bit. “But still, why me?”

“Once you’ve come that close, it won’t happen again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“They’re having a sale at David’s Bridal.” Pepper flipped through her phone, trying to be nonchalant.

“I thought you wanted a Vera Wang original.” Tony tapped away at his keyboard lightning fast.

Like dark chocolate frosting on her dream wedding cake, her smile was bittersweet. “You were listening.”

“Of course. The less interested I look, the more I’m listening. And vice versa.”

“Sure...”

“Like Fury’s briefings. I’ve learned to look incredibly focused. But I could give a rat’s ass. Now, I put a bored face on when (y/n)’s talking about her day; but really I’m remembering word for word.”

“Right.” She looked down in her lap. She wondered if he noticed. According to his back-asswards logic, he’d remember her crestfallen face for the next decade. “How is (y/n) anyway?”

“Oh she’s great! Did you know she has her own glitter mic at the karaoke bar on 7th Street? Apparently she took hip hop lessons from one of the bouncers. Only she was so bad at dancing because she was trying to sing at the same time, he asks her to never come back to class. But he also recommends her to check out his day job. Er, night job. So, long story short she makes up for her utter dance failure by doing an amazing Aretha solo! The owner of the bar was so impressed he got a custom made mic for her.” Tony took a break from hacking to launch into a rousing rendition of ‘I will always love you.’

“Hmm. That’s nice.” She kept her voice light. “You know that’s Whitney Houston right?”

“Oh. Right.” Tony was unruffled. He’d stopped noticing when she corrected him. “Hey what do you think of having that as our second dance song? I know you want our first dance to be ‘Kiss me’ by Sixpence None the Richer.”

“Sounds lovely.” Pepper agreed happily. Though it didn’t really matter as long as they’d be together, forever.

“Have you decided between a pink diamond or blue diamond yet?” Neither of them could remember how it happened, how they’d agreed to get married without him proposing. But at some point, he had said he wanted the ring to be perfect. 

This was the first time in recent memory that he’d brought it up again.

“Nu uh.” Pepper laid down dreamily on the sofa, remembering Tony adamantly refusing to give her a budget. Whatever she wanted, regardless of cost, he’d get.

“Cool. How do you feel about Swarovski? Apparently (y/n)’s mic is dripping with like a thousand of those. Sounds sick!”

Pepper sat up abruptly at the third mention of your name within 5 minutes. She’d wanted to bring this up for a while now, but she didn’t know how. She didn’t want to seem like the typical toxic girlfriend who didn’t want her man to have any gal friends. And she really didn’t want to derail a conversation about the wedding, since those had not been happening recently. If at all. But she couldn’t help herself. “I don’t want to complain, Tony but-“

“Now, honey, don’t worry. I know exactly what’s bothering you. Don’t feel uncomfortable talking about it; we are fiancées and we have a healthy relationship.”

Pepper relaxed visibly.

“I’m not going to cheap out on your ring! Remember, I said no budget. Whatever makes my miss happy.”

She was stunned into silence, stuck between surprise at how oblivious he was and giddiness that he’d called her his.

Perhaps if she’d had more time in that silence she could have figured out the words to ask him- 

“Hey Mr. and Mrs. Stark!” You popped out of the vents, breathless from army-crawl-racing Clint through the air ducts.

“Hey (y/n)! How’s my best girl?” Tony jumped out of the chair and high-fived you.

Pepper turned her shocked face to you, which you also interpreted incorrectly.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to assume you’d take his last name. Potts is much cooler than Stark, which if you think about it, is one letter away from Stank.”

“Stank? I think you mean Spank!”

Tony lunged at you, as you shrieked and grappled back into the ceiling.

“Save me, Barton!” There was a chorus of giggles as you and Clint squirmed your way down the hall. Tony sprinted towards the broom closet to grab a ladder.

It took a few minutes before the shock wore off. When it did, Pepper saw that you’d left a monster bar of slightly mashed Godiva on the couch. Her favorite chocolate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m still torn between sponge and ladyfinger for the cake base.”

“Come on, Pepper. Ladyfinger all the way!!”

“Yes I know that’s your favorite. But it doesn’t mean that I want it.”

You grabbed the carton from her. “Then why’d you ask for my help? I told you I only know what I like!”

“Because you’re the only girl here besides Tasha!”

“That’s not true. The cleaning lady comes every Tuesday.”

“And today is Wednesday. Case in point.”

“Yeah but I barely count.”

“Hey your double A cup has grown into a solid C.”

“I don’t mean that! Although seriously I wish they hadn’t. My army crawl has gotten way slower, thanks to the traction.”

Pepper guffawed, nearly spitting out the sherbet.

“Remember we took that what type of brain do you have quiz? I got 52% male.”

“Yes, but that actually helps. So you can offer both a male perspective and a female one.”

You stuck your tongue out at her. “Fine. Asa he/she, I still vote ladyfingers.”

“Fine. But we won’t have any Whitney Houston tracks on the wedding playlist then.”

“Hey, if it’s one of the other, please save Whitney.”

“Fine. We will have ladyfingers and also play your favorite song. But only after the cha cha slide, when everyone is tired and won’t be paying attention.”

“Deal.”

“Do you think I was too harsh on (y/n)?”

“If you have to ask, Bruce, then you probably were.” Steve spoke remarkably sagely with a mouth full of popcorn. The two of them were watching Jeopardy, having passed on Strip Poker.

“Clint says way worse stuff all the time.”

“Yeah but that’s when they’re play fighting. She will call him bitch and he will reply with slut. But they’d never be devastatingly honest like you were just now.”

Bruce nodded guiltily. “And I brought up the porn thing too.”

“Double yikes.”

“She and Tony were joking about it the other day! I figured it was okay.”

“And Clint calls her slut all the time. But none of us do. We know better.”

Bruce sighed. “Everyone’s dynamic is different with each other. I just wish it was easier to figure out sometimes. I feel like a social leper.”

“None of us are perfect. But as a general rule, don’t bring up Tony and (y/n)’s past. Even Pepper doesn’t talk about it, and she’s close with both of them.”

“To be fair, she’s also in a unique position where that mess is concerned.”

“See, you’re not socially clueless.”

Bruce smiled. Leave it to the Captain to cheer him up. “So you missed the whole first time talk at breakfast.”

Steve’s face colored, despite knowing the truth now. “I’m not sorry I missed it.”

“It’s ok, it turned into a debate about why Pepper turned Tony down the first time he proposed.”

Steve nodded, holding in the sad smile. He knew why, but he’d never tell. You’d spilled it to him one night after too many mojitos. When you’d sobered up, you’d made him swear on his life as well as Bucky’s, because it was a secret you’d carry to the grave.

She’d said no because she thought he was practicing for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s going on?!”

Pepper had woken up to a string quartet playing ‘I will always love you.’

The lead violinist merely smiled and pointed to a trail of pink rose petals that led out of her bedroom.

“If this is some sort of prank, I’m cutting Tony’s balls off.”

The bassist winced as Pepper stalked off down the hall. He shrieked a second later when you landed next to him from the ceiling. 

“I wonder why she’s so grumpy? You guys did a really good job.” 

You handed them each a hundred dollar bill as a tip, and as an incentive to disappear immediately. If for some reason the awesome proposal Tony prepared didn’t work out, there definitely shouldn’t be any witnesses. 

Though you didn’t see how that could be possible. Whitney Houston and pink roses? The best singer and best flower in the universe!

Pepper was so lucky.

But you refused to let yourself wallow in jealousy. She was a good friend.

She and Tony were a perfect fit.

And you, you would be the best man. Best girl?

Following the rose petals, Pepper made her way to the living room. It was unrecognizable.

The DVDs sprawled over the floor, the sofa covered in crumbs, the 96 inch TV with a scratch across the left corner from when Tony forgot to put the strap around his wrist during Wii Boxing: all of it was gone.

Instead, there were twinkling fairy lights all around the room, and huge bouquets of more pink roses, and in the middle, a beaming Tony Stark down on one knee.

And in the ground, spelled out in rhinestones, which she later found out were Swarovski, the words :

Will you be my best girl?

And his smile, which grew bigger when she started crying, changed into a worried frown when she shook her head and fell to the ground, whispering no.

He ran to her, confused, and asked her over and over again what was wrong.

And she didn’t need silence anymore, to know what to say.

“What are my favorite flowers, Tony?”

He let go of her then, and sat down heavily on the ground. And said two words, that would usher on some of the happiest and most painful memories in his life.

“Yellow Peonies.”

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY IM NOT SORRY BUT IK A LITTLE SORRY
> 
> Quick poll 1: what part broke you??
> 
> I didn’t want to put emotional infidelity in there, so I just left it like you n Tony were just friends at first, but Tony fell for you, then you two had a thing in the middle somewhere, but it didn’t work out and now Tony and pepper are back together 
> 
> I didn’t put any Tony x lovely fluff because I’m mean. 
> 
> It was nice writing pepper as a bestie because she usually doesn’t even make a cameo in my stuff 
> 
> Leave a comment if you liked! Have a great week lovelies!
> 
> Xoxo Bucky the Angstmaster


End file.
